Company News

Get To The Bottom of It

The battle for pipeline integrity is won or lost right here. Cleaning to the bottom of the pits to remove microbes, debris, or water is a job for pencil brushes (Figure 1). The old fashioned flat wire brushes are not flexible enough or small enough to get to the bottom of the pits. Pigs without brushes act as a spatula and spread the debris out in the pipeline and cover up the pits. If water or microbes are present in the pits, the urethane seals of the pig will cover them with debris and provide the protection they need to continue their attack on the pipe wall. A brush is needed to get to the bottom of the pits and remove the corrosion inducing substances.

We prefer to mount the brushes on a Bi-Di pig with the proper brush to pipe wall interface.
The brush length, or trim length as it is called, must be calculated to get the brush ends to the
bottom of the pits, but not too long so that the brush becomes ineffective. If the brushes are too sparse on the pig, like moving sand with ones fingers spread apart, ineffective cleaning will result. Too many brushes will not clean any better and will result in higher costs. Figure 2 shows a Bi-Di pig with the proper brush density.

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I just got back from my trip to Western Canada where I visited one new company and two current customers. The new customer had used our pencil brushes once before but did not have the success with them that we usually see. When I looked at the pigs and brushes they had run, it was obvious they were using the wrong length of pencil brushes. They had ordered brushes from a distributor without relaying pipeline information. We will design a pig and brushes that matches the pipeline they are using them in and I’m sure that they will see the same great results that other companies that use them are seeing.

While in Canada we received word that one of the largest pipeline operators in North America has decided to switch to our pencil brushes. Our Canadian distributor told me that they have been notified to be prepared for the switch. Another exiting opportunity and a great win for the Galaxy team.